I look closely at the photograph of Enya and recognize her as the woman with the pixie cut who nodded to me each day in the crowd as I was jeered and jostled on my walk across the courtyard at Highland Castle.
“Lisa Life published this today,” she says, handing me a new article from a folder.
“Compassion and Logic: The Perfect Pairing. Our Perfect Leader?”
There is a photograph of me, looking strong and determined, standing in court. I don’t remember ever feeling how I look in the photograph. It’s a girl, no, a woman, whom I would trust, a woman I would think is strong and powerful. A woman who appears to know exactly what she’s doing. How deceiving appearances can be.
Pia dumps article after article on top of my lap, one after another, so quickly that I have time only to take in the headlines and the photographs before another lands on my knees. She spreads them out on the coffee table. More and more. Images of me, page after page of stories and familiar quotes, so much that I don’t recognize the person I’m seeing.
“This is all Lisa Life?” I feel embarrassed, feel my cheeks blush. It’s overwhelming to see all this support.
“No, not all of them. I gathered as many supportive articles as I could. There are many more, Celestine.”
I can’t believe that people I have never met think so highly of me. If they had seen me on my knees, begging and cowering in the shed in front of Logan, taking back everything I had done … Pia interrupts my dark thoughts. “Do you see what’s happening? The power you have and don’t even know it?”
I laugh bitterly and feel the ache in my ribs and in my pounding, pulsating head. Earlier this week I thought I could take on Crevan; all day today I’ve curled up in a ball and cried, admitted defeat.
“Power? I got locked up in a shed by four people in my class, and the police and the school don’t care. They can’t help me. Two people I love most in the world betrayed me. I can’t even stay out after eleven PM. I have no power, Pia.”
“Yes, you do. You know you do. The power doesn’t just lie in the sixth brand on your spine, but in the strength you’ve had in getting it. What you did on the bus, what you said at the trial, the way you faced Crevan. I’ve worked at the castle for ten years, and I’ve never seen anyone speak to him like that. Now use that power and hone it, because you’re going to need it with what’s to come.” She sighs. “The thing is…”
My heart hammers, and I brace myself.
FIFTY
“I’VE BEEN TRYING to meet with Mr. Berry,” continues Pia. “I’ve called his office, cell, home, every number I have for him, and there’s no answer. I went to his home, and his husband doesn’t know where he is. Says he’s been gone for weeks and hasn’t heard from him. None of Mr. Berry’s clients have heard from him, nor his staff, though they think he’s on a sudden holiday as he was inclined to do that, but I know that’s not the case this time. Not with what we know, Celestine.”
“Maybe his husband knows where he is and won’t tell you. Everyone knows you’re Crevan’s media girl. Why would he trust you?”
“I told him I want to find the truth. He says he doesn’t know where he is, and I believe him,” she says firmly.
“Why doesn’t he call the police?”
“He doesn’t think the police can help him,” she says quietly. “He’s afraid.”
I swallow hard. “Let me guess. Mr. Berry disappeared after Naming Day. Just like Tina, just like June, Bark, Funar, and Tony.”
She nods.
“Do you think he’s hiding or that he was taken away?”
“I don’t know, I really don’t know. I went to Tina’s house yesterday. It’s boarded up, all the furniture still inside, like they just upped and left. Her teenage daughter is gone, too. Her school hasn’t heard from her. Tina’s divorced and not close with her family, so they weren’t surprised she hadn’t been in touch the past few weeks. I’ve called Bark’s, Funar’s, June’s, and Tony’s houses, but their families won’t talk to me. I haven’t visited them yet. I think they’re more likely to speak off the phone, but guessing from Mr. Berry and Tina, I’m expecting the same thing. They’re all too afraid.”
“So now there’s no video of what happened in the chamber?” I say, my eyes filling up. “Everyone who saw is gone, and it’s my word against Crevan’s.”
But that’s not true, and I’m the only one who knows it. Carrick was there, Carrick saw what happened. Would anybody believe a Flawed witness? And has Crevan managed to get his hands on Carrick, too? Does Crevan even know he was there? Did he see him? Am I next? Should I be worried?
“I can’t write the story without proof,” Pia says. “I’m going to need more time.”
“You still don’t believe me, do you?” I ask angrily.
“Of course I believe you.” She raises her voice and stands. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve risked already for you?”